262 actors voice support for Boğaziçi University community

Some 262 theater actors from Turkey signed a public statement to voice their support for the Boğaziçi University community as the school leaves behind two months of protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's appointment of a party member as rector. "We stand with the academics and students of Boğaziçi. This time, they're on the stage, the stage of resistance," the actors said.

Thursday March 04 2021 04:20 pm

Duvar English

Some 262 theater actors from Turkey released a statement in support of the Boğaziçi University community on March 4, a little over two months after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appointed a party member as rector of the prestigious school.

The Boğaziçi community has sustained their protest against Melih Bulu, Erdoğan's appointment, despite state response, including police brutality and hundreds of detentions.

"We stand with the academics and students of Boğaziçi. This time, they're on the stage, the stage of resistance," the actors said.

Resisting the politically-motivated rector appointment is the university's most natural right, especially considering that Boğaziçi has been such an academically rich environment thanks to its culture of democracy, the actors added.

Officials have also deployed what the United States and United Nations have both described as homophobic rhetoric, with one minister describing students as "LGBT perverts."

Erdoğan also established two new faculties at the university in a decree published in the Official Gazette in February, in a move critics said was aimed at increasing Ankara's influence.